Sunday, April 21, 2013

April 21st Game’s Results and Analysis

April 21st
Game’s Results and Analysis

Milwaukee Brewers 4 -
Chicago Cubs 2

Winning Pitcher:
Peralta (1-1) Losing Pitcher: Feldman (0-3)

Save by Henderson (4)

Player of the Game:
Wily Peralta

The Chicago Cubs couldn’t avoid getting swept by the
Milwaukee Brewers with a loss of 4 to 2. The Cubbies did have a lead in the
game until a three run homer by Ryan Braun who would have been the player of
the game, but he struck out 3 times in a game and got ejected in the same game
so I decided he wasn’t the player of the game. The Cubs did get a solid start
from Scott Feldman, but errors made by him and Welington Castillo were costly
errors and probably cost Feldman’s chance for a win. Feldman was out-dueled by
Wily Peralta, Peralta putting together a quality start by going 6.2 innings and
allowed just 2 earned runs.

Impressive: The most impressive thing about today’s game was
Anthony Rizzo’s 6th homerun of the year. Rizzo hit a two run homer
off of Wily Peralta in the third inning with two outs. The most impressive
thing about Rizzo’s homerun was that it came off a left-handed pitcher, which is
his second homer off a lefty pitcher. Anthony Rizzo has shown that he can hit
for power and offers the Cubbies a power left-handed batter. Rizzo could one
day be an all-star and has MVP caliber talent, the Cubs just need to give him the
time to groom himself into the player he can be. Another impressive thing in
today’s game is that Starlin Castro has put in a 13 game hitting streak and has
not recorded a hit in only two games this season.

Surprising: What surprised me about today’s game was how
well Scott Feldman pitched in his start. Feldman went 5 innings allowing 4 runs
(one earned) with 6 strikeouts and gave up only three hits to the Brewers.
However, Feldman struggled again with his command and walked too many batters
to pull out a good performance. I believe that Feldman offers the Cubs a decent
5th starter, but is more suited to the bullpen once the Cubbies get Matt
Garza or Scott Baker back.

Concerning: I truly only have one concern about today’s and
that is the Cubs can’t hit left-handed pitchers. The Cubbies are winless when
there is a left-handed starting opposing pitcher. The Cubs only recorded five
hits and a team can’t get five hits and expect to win on a given night. I don’t
know what the solution to the Cubs problems against LHPs is, I thought the
signing of Scott Hairston was a solid solution, but he hasn’t panned out as
well as planned. If the Cubs could add a power right-handed batter to their
lineup it might help them win games that they tend to lose.